Little-known woman who became Youth Fund CEO

Suspended Youth Fund CEO Catherine Namuye

Little is known about Catherine Namuye’s life before she rose to the helm of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.

She was appointed the agency’s chief executive officer in July 2014 after holding the position in an acting capacity for more than a year.

Previously, the now suspended CEO held the position of senior support manager at the NGO Consortium/NGO Security programme.

Ms Namuye first hit the news headlines in March 2015, after her name featured among 175 others in an Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission dossier tabled in Parliament by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Despite being mentioned as under investigation for alleged malpractices, Ms Namuye continued discharging her duties as she did not step aside like her other Government colleagues, as directed by the Head of State.

She was suspended together with the Fund’s finance manager Benedict Atavachi by the board in October, 2015, following a reported loss of an undisclosed amount of money.

Her former position has remained vacant since then, with the public raising concerns over the delay to appoint a substantive boss to take over the vacant position at the funds agency.

A month after her suspension, it emerged she was hired irregularly, as her name was not on the list of the shortlisted candidates forwarded to the then Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru for consideration.

The suspended CS reportedly disregarded a list of shortlisted candidates forwarded to her by the board, which was led by Gor Evans Semalang’o. Candidates who merited to be on the shortlist were Joseph Muna Kimote, Geoffrey Osiago Monari, Adan Ali Mohammed, Joshua M Ngelu and Halkano D Waqo.